Court restores Zamfara ex-dep gov, Gusau

A Federal High Court in Abuja has reinstated Mahadi Aliyu Gusau as the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State.

Gusau and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filed their case in 2021 over moves that eventually led to his impeachment in February, 2022, by the Zamfara State House of Assembly on alleged gross misconduct.

In the judgement on Wednesday, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the indictment by the judicial panel constituted by former Governor Bello Matawalle and his impeachment were done in disregard to the matter before the court, which amounted to self-help and taking the law into their hands.

He said, “An order is hereby made restoring the status quo of the plaintiff/applicant (Mahadi Aliyu Mohammed) wholly to the position of Deputy Governor of Zamfara State as at the 8th day of July, 2021, when this suit was commenced.

“An order is hereby made setting aside all the steps taken, proceedings conducted and acts or things done by the defendants in furtherance of the purported impeachment proceedings or impeachment of the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State during the pendency of this suit before this court.”

Gusau and the PDP had also sought the removal of about 32 members of the senate, House of Representatives and state assembly who defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The originating summons joined the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the APC, the senate president, the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, the speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, Governor Matawalle, the Chief Judge of Zamfara State, including Senator Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u, Hon Ahmad Mohammed Bakura, among the 32 others, in the suit.

The PDP had contended that following the Supreme Court judgement of 2019 in APC and another vs Senator Kabiru Marafa and 179 others, only members of the PDP, including Matawalle, were entitled to hold the office of governor and deputy governor or member of the Zamfara State House of Assembly “or occupy any position or seat as a senator or member of the House of Representatives of the Nigerian National Assembly for the purpose of representing any senatorial district or electoral constituency in Zamfara State for the period beginning from May 29, 2019, and ending May 28, 2023.”

PDP further contended that members of the APC were foreclosed and debarred from any of the elected offices between May 29, 2019, and May 28, 2023, based on the Supreme Court pronouncement that, “A party that has no candidate in an election cannot be declared the winner of the election,” and that “all the votes credited to the alleged candidates of the All Progressives Congress in the 2019 general elections in Zamfara State are wasted votes,” and having ordered that candidates of parties, other than the 1st appellant (APC), with highest votes cast and required spread stand elected into the various offices that were contested for in Zamfara State in the 2019 general elections.

Reacting to the judgement, a lawyer, Ben Chuks Nwosu, said the tenure of Gusau had lapsed, but that the judgement was necessary to remove the stigma of impeachment and ensure he enjoyed his benefits.

Related